Moving Memories was a participatory arts project for older people attending day care centres in Rathangan, Allenwood and Carbury.

Moving Memories

Moving Memories was a participatory arts project for older people attending day care centres in Rathangan, Allenwood and Carbury. It was commissioned by Kildare County Council Arts Service to mark Bealtaine, the national month-long festival celebrating creativity in older age.

Through a series of workshops facilitated by artist Sharon Lynch, participants recalled and shared their memories which were then animated and brought to life in the form of stop-motion animation films. This project provided opportunity for participants to work directly with a professional artist, tap into their own creativity, explore new art processes and methods of expression.

Work produced during these sessions was developed, combined and edited to create the final film representing ideas, stories and artworks from each of the three groups. This short film was screened during Creative Connections, a celebration of artistic work by older people on 7 May 2009 in Kerdiffstown House, Naas.

Feedback gathered by the artist indicated an interest and need amongst day care centres for participatory arts projects. It was also noted that participants benefited from the challenge of doing something different and outside their comfort zone.

Moving Memories demonstrates our commitment to the promotion and facilitation of meaningful, high quality arts activity in services for older people, as outlined in Kildare County Council Arts in Health Strategy 2009-2011.